


Clouds

by KateKintail



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Promptember
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-05 05:03:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20483309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KateKintail/pseuds/KateKintail
Summary: Dean & Sam watch clouds and talk about college.





	Clouds

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 1 of Promptember 2019

Lying on their backs in the grass, they gazed up at the sky and the clouds that slowly moved across. Sam couldn’t remember feeling so relaxed and at peace. There was a comfortable silence between them. Even when there was a recognizable, obvious shape to be found in their fluffy whiteness, they kept it to themselves. So there was no way to know if Dean saw the dragon-shaped cloud that Sam spotted and no telling if Sam saw the wolf-shaped cloud that Dean couldn’t take his eyes from.

Though they used to do this a lot as kids—because free entertainment had been all they could enjoy—the brothers hardly ever looked at clouds like this anymore. Maybe it was because they never seemed to have the time. It was always about the hunt, about finding the demon that killed Mom and never getting close enough, about following Dad’s orders, about being the perfect sons. Sam wasn’t sure he could ever live up to Dad’s expectations. Or maybe it was harder to use your imagination when you got older and knew the crazy sort of shit that really existed in the world. 

“I’m going away to college.” 

The line that broke the silence was a knife to the gut. 

“No you’re not.”

“I am. Got the acceptance letter yesterday. I already sent back all the paperwork, and I wired the first semester’s tuition money over this morning. I’ve been putting some money aside. It adds up. I had just enough. Figure I’ll get a job and stay one semester ahead of the fees each year.” He’d gone out to pick up breakfast for them at a fast food place near the motel and had been gone long enough for Dad to wonder if something was wrong. 

Apparently, something was. It was terribly, horribly wrong. Dean was going off to college and leaving Sam all alone with their dad. With their often drunk, crazily obsessed drill sergeant of a dad. Sam knew he should be happy for his big brother. Sam knew he was making this news all about him, not Dean. But his world was upside-down, and he couldn’t make sense of it. He’d lost Mom and now he was going to lose his protective big brother as well. 

He took one more look at the clouds, but their appealing fluffiness against the perfect blue sky brought absolutely no comfort. Sam flipped from his back to his stomach, feeling sick and disoriented. He focused on the blades of grass nearest to his hand. He plucked one and twirled it between his fingers. It was still green, still strong, but it was dead now. It was already dead and didn’t even realize it yet. 

Sam swallowed hard. “When do you leave?” 

“Depends where we are by then, but orientation starts on August fifteenth.”

That was less than two months away. Two months until Dean walked out on them. Two months until Dad took this loss out on Sam the only way he knew how. Sam would be as dead as that grass, only he already knew. Almost like he could see the future… he just knew it would be bad. 

“Well, congrats, I guess.” The words made him sick to say, but he choked them out. “S’ppose you’ll be able to call for a while, but the next time Dad switches burners...”

“Do you really think I care about keeping in touch?” 

The knife in Sam’s gut twisted. He didn’t want to make this all about him, but he couldn’t stand losing his brother. His voice soft and shaky, he said, “I thought… maybe… you’d want to keep in touch with me.” 

Dean sat up, genuine confusion in his expression. “Why?” 

Sam felt sick to his stomach. He buried his face in the grass, trying hard not to cry. Dean was going to remember this moment for the rest of his life—the moment he broke free. Sam didn’t want him to remember his little brother crying like a baby during it. 

“Why would I need to call you? You’re going to be right there with me.” 

Sam jerked his head up and turned it, looking at Dean. “What?” 

“Do you really think I’d leave you with Dad? Hell, Sammy, I gotta keep you safe. And this is my chance to do that. This is our chance.” He hesitated for a second. “Ah, assuming you want to come with me.”

Sam rolled back over. Instead of meeting Dean’s gaze, Sam looked back up at the sky. The clouds floating overhead now didn’t remind him of any shapes he could name, but that didn’t matter. Sam raised his hand and pointed up at the sky. “Looks like a suitcase.” 

Smiling, Dean lay back against the grass as well. “That one looks like a bus,” he said, pointing vaguely at a fluffy, circular cloud that looked nothing at all like a bus.

Moving his hand to point elsewhere, Sam said, “And that one looks like a… what’s your college mascot gonna be?” 

“It’s a tiger.”

“Yep,” Sam said, dropping his arm. “That’s definitely what the cloud looks like.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'd had the note "Dean goes to college instead of Sam" on my plot bunny list for ages, so it was fun to finally write a little thing for it.


End file.
